Letter to the community 10.6.2014

• The proposed bond does not solve the problems of over-use and inadequate playing time.

• The district has 4 fields: 2 at the high school, 2 at Dows Lane.• Fixing just 2 fields at the high school doesn’t solve the problem.• Fixing all 4 fields within the same time frame – and covering all 4 in grass – does solve the problem.

• If the Oct 7 bond passes, high school students will have good fields and sufficient playing time.• But the district intends to continue over-use of Dows Lane. (see: Athletic Field Utilization March 28, 2014)• Thus Dows Lane students will play on worn-out grass and, when they reach high school, on worn-out turf.

• The district supplied inflated “usage” figures to the Fields Committee.• Accurate figures show all 4 fields must be restored w/in the same time frame to provide 30/hrs playing time/wk.• Installing turf on Meszaros Field does not solve usage problems at Dows Lane.• Installing grass on all four fields solves usage problems on all four fields.

• The district over-taxes and under-spends.• Instead of budgeting for thorough maintenance of fields, including rest time, BOE saves money in “fund balances.”• “Saving” money on maintenance costs more money than it saves.

• 8-year warranty, 15-year bond.

• The bond proposal does not solve the problem.• Installing natural grass on all 4 fields w/in the same time frame will work.

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To the community –

Grassrootsirvington is a group of parents and members of the community who believe that the current bond proposal fails to solve the problem of inadequate playing time.

Moreover, the current proposal solves the problem for high school students while making the situation for Dows Lane children worse.

• Two rehabilitated fields at the high school, even with one field covered in artificial turf, are not sufficient.• All four fields need to be rehabilitated within the same time frame.

If all four fields—2 at the high school, 2 at Dows Lane—are rehabilitated, natural grass playing surfaces provide all the hours of intensive play students are missing now, with no further damage to any of the fields.

We hope you’ll take a few minutes to allow us to explain our reasoning.

Thank you!

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The District plans to continue over-using both Dows Lane Fields

A ‘yes’ vote on Tuesday, unfortunately, is a ‘yes’ vote for continued damage to Upper and Lower Dows Lane fields.

Natural grass can support ~30 hours of intensive play per week.

But the District’s figures for usage once Meszaros has been covered in artificial turf and East Field has been restored are:

If the bond passes, current high school students will play on newly installed natural grass on East Field and newly installed artificial turf on Meszaros Field.

But the little ones will continue to play on damaged grass fields that grow more damaged with each passing season.

And then, when children now attending Dows Lane reach high-school age, they will play on worn-out artificial turf that is out of warranty (while the bond is still being paid off: 8-year warranty/15-year bond).

Life isn’t fair, and sometimes such trade-offs must be made.

But not in this case.

Our four fields are a “system,” as the Fields Project Committee Report points out.

Fixing two fields on the high school campus while continuing to damage the other two at Dows Lane is not a systemic solution.

Grassrootsirvington believes that the Dows Lane fields can and should be rehabilitated within the same time frame, and the same bond, as the high school fields.

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The District's "usage" figures are inflated

The district has not provided verifiable data on the hours of intensive practice and play our student athletes need.

9 to 9.5 hours a day, 7 days a week, 26 weeks a year. Roughly 5,000 hours/year of play across 3 fields.

While it is undoubtedly true that the fields are “programmed” (or reserved) for 64 hours of practice and play a week, 26 weeks a year, they receive nowhere near that amount of actual play.

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When we analyze our needs using the real figures, we find that rehabilitating 4 fields works but rehabilitating just 2 fields does not work

Using accurate figures dramatically reduces the level of over-use at Dows Lane the administration envisions.

That’s the good news.

The bad news is that even when we use accurate figures, we still find that just two properly installed and maintained fields at the high school, even with one field covered in artificial turf, are not enough – but four grass fields are.

• One artificial turf field without lights + 3 grass fields do not meet our students’ playing and practice needs.

The proposal we endorse, which was forwarded to grassrootsirvington, uses primary sources (available on the district website) to analyze actual hours of intensive practice and play.

The author concludes that:

There is no need for an artificial turf field. The system of four grass fields meets the District’s needs as long as they are all maintained in good condition, allowing 30 hrs/wk of intensive play.

Grassrootsirvington endorses this conclusion.

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The District has always had the financial means to protect the fields while providing sufficient playing time, but chose to save money for a 'rainy day' instead

Each year, the district budgets for worst-case scenarios, such as the need to hire a new teacher because several students have moved into the district unexpectedly over the summer.

As a consequence, the district ends each school year with a surplus.

That money is not returned to the taxpayer.

Instead, some of the money is put toward the following year’s budget, some is put in the “Unassigned Fund Balance,” and the rest is put in “Restricted” or “Assigned” fund balances.

All of this money, including money in the “Restricted” or “Assigned” fund balances, can be spent on other purposes, including maintenance and renovation of fields and/or rental of field time on the Village’s 4 beautifully maintained fields.

But in this case the very act of saving (taxpayer) money has created the rainy day.

Instead of budgeting for regular and thorough maintenance of the fields (including rental of Village fields to prevent over-use of District fields), the district has allowed our fields to deteriorate to the point that they need to be replaced.

Replacement (especially with artificial turf) will cost more than the small amount we’ve been saving by deferring maintenance and subjecting the fields to over-use.

If you don’t replace the oil in your car, you end up having to replace the engine.

If you don’t maintain the fields, you end up having to replace the fields.

Penny wise, pound foolish.

In the words of the 2011 Budget Task Force, which included 3 members of the current board:

Today we are asked to vote on a proposal to take out yet another loan, in a tiny district whose total indebtedness stands at $40.3 million (with another $34 million liability for retiree healthcare).

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The future: stadium lights at Meszaros, turf at Dows Lane

What will happen if the bond passes?

If the bond passes, district parents will soon discover that their children still don’t have enough playing time, and pressure to install stadium lights around Meszaros Field will build.

The current board will change its mind about lights, or a new board, whose members have not made an implicit promise to keep Meszaros light-free, will rent or install stadium lights.

Stadium lights still won’t solve the problem of over-use at Dows Lane, so pressure will build to install artificial turf at Dows Lane, too.

The same rationale will be put forward for stadium lights and for turf at Dows Lane:

• Over-use is damaging the fields, so we need lights.• Over-use has damaged the fields, so we need (more) turf.

Remember: the administration does not see over-use as a form of neglect. It sees over-use as a natural event, like an act of God.

The administration has issued a report stating that the Dows Lane fields will be over-used next year, too.

Installing artificial turf on the beautiful fields at Dows Lane would be a terrible loss, and that is where we are headed.

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Please vote 'no'

We intend to vote ‘no’ on October 7, and, if the referendum does not pass, to lobby the board to:

• Provide the public with verifiable figures for hours of intensive practice and play;• Perform an evidence-based analysis of natural grass versus artificial turf surfaces for all four fields;• Put forward the same referendum with a provision for the installation of natural grass on all four fields;• Open a public discussion of the existence of our fund balances & their proper use in maintaining our programs & facilities.

We hope you’ll vote ‘no,’ too.

The alternative proposal we endorse shows that four properly installed, well-maintained fields meet all students’ needs for intensive playing and practice time.